This invention relates to pet toys, and particularly to toys for carnivorous animals such as dogs and cats.
Chewable pet toys provide a variety of beneficial functions for the pet carnivore. Chewing on such toys provides the carnivore with masticatory exercise, as well as dental prophylaxis. Irregular shapes impart erratic movements to the toy when rolled or bounced, thereby provide exercise for the animal. Such toys often provide a training function, teaching the carnivore to chew on the toy, rather than on furniture or other valuable items.
To enhance the attractiveness of the toy to the carnivore, sensory attractants have been incorporated in the toy. These toys attract the carnivore and encourage the carnivore to chew on the toy, rather than on furniture or other personal property. Thus, the sensory attractant is particularly advantageous as a training device for the carnivore. Often, these sensory attractants are an integral part of the toy, molded into the plastic or other material of the toy, making it impossible to remove the attractant without destroying the toy. More recent toys employ a cavity designed to retain a replaceable attractant.
One example of a toy designed to retain replaceable attractants is the xe2x80x9cKongxe2x80x9d toy available from the Bounce, Inc. of Golden, Colo. This toy, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,444 has a hollow cavity in which the attractant is loosely retained until dislodged by the animal. The cavity is open at an end to permit insertion of the attractant, such as a dog biscuit or other treat. The toy is constructed of resilient plastic, such as a non-toxic elastomer, so that the cavity is resiliently crushed by the chewing action of the animal, thereby breaking the attractant. This allows the animal to crush the attractant and dissolve it with the animal""s saliva so that part of the attractant is expelled through the opening to the animal. When the attractant is fully removed by the animal, the pet owner may replace the attractant so that the toy may be reused. However, the attractant was loosely placed within the cavity of the toy, rendering it relatively easy to retrieve from the toy""s cavity. Consequently, the animal quickly lost interest in the toy.
Another chew toy from Bounce, Inc., called Biscuit Ball, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,061. This toy employs a hollow cavity formed by a wall having openings that retain treats, such as biscuits. A small portion of the biscuit is held by the lip of the opening, allowing the animal to break the biscuit so that one portion is immediately retrieved and the other portion falls loose inside the toy where it can be quickly dislodged and retrieved by the animal. Thus, like the Kong toy, the Biscuit Ball toy did not retain the animal""s interest for any great period of time.
A toy available from Planet Pet, Inc. of Naples, Fla., is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,366 to Mauldin. The Planet Pet toy employs splines within a treat-receiving shaft. The splines bend to grip the attractant over a substantial portion of the surface of the attractant to rigidly hold the attractant until dissolved or chewed to a reduced size by the animal. Thus, the Planet Pet toy overcame a significant problem of the Kong and Biscuit Ball toys by gripping a substantial surface area of the attractant by the splines, so that even if the animal broke off one portion, another portion was retained. Thus, when so used, the toy held the interest of the animal for a substantial length of time. However, the attractant was inserted into the Planet Pet toy by simultaneously rotating the attractant to bend the splines and pushing on the attractant to force the attractant into the attractant-receiving shaft. The shear strength of many attractants, such as dog biscuits, is inadequate to overcome the reaction force of the splines. Consequently, the attractant broke into smaller pieces during insertion, making them easier to remove by the animal. In some cases, the attractant crumbled into such small pieces that they could not be gripped by the splines, rendering the toy relatively useless as a sensory attractant holder.
Mann Design introduced another toy, described in the aforementioned International Application No. PCT/US99/17024, that overcame many of the difficulties of the Kong, Biscuit Ball and Planet Pet toys. The Mann Design toy employed a solid body having a trapper cavity extending through the toy and an adjacent bias cavity that provided independent flexibility to a bias wall of the trapper cavity. Attractants, such as dog biscuits, could be easily inserted into the trapper cavity by deforming the bias wall into the bias cavity. Upon release of the deforming force, a substantial portion of the surface area of the attractant was clamped between the opposing walls of the trapper cavity. Hence, the Mann Design toy provided easy replacement of the attractant, while holding the interest of the animal for a substantial period of time.
Most pet toys are used by animal handlers and owners to encourage social interaction between the handler and the animal. Hence, commercially successful pet toys are attractive to the owner or handler, are easy to use, and retain the interest of the animal for a considerable period of time. Most pet owners and handlers purchase pet toys that have multiple attractive appendages and/or multiple colors. Toys made from a single mold are limited in shapes and colors. Consequently, solid toys, such as the aforementioned Planet Pet and Mann Design toys cannot be made in shapes having multiple appendages and cannot be made in multiple solid colors. Instead, molded toys having multiple aesthetic appendages and/or multiple solid colors are made by forming several parts of the toy in separate molds, and fixing the several parts together with an adherent.
The present invention is directed to a non-consumable pet toy for rigidly holding a replaceable sensory attractant, such as a dog biscuit or other treat, wherein the attractant is held by the toy over a substantial portion of its surface so is cannot be quickly broken or dislodged, and wherein the attractant is not subjected to shear forces that could break the attractant during insertion into the toy.
In one form of the invention, the toy includes a trapper cavity having opposing surfaces that extend a substantial distance into the toy to apply a compressive force against a substantial portion of the surface of the attractant, such as a biscuit in the cavity. At least one of the opposing surfaces is on a bias wall that is sufficiently resilient that a deformation force applied to the toy deforms the bias wall to expand the trapper cavity and permit insertion of the attractant. In some embodiments, flexibility of the bias of the trapper cavity is achieved by a bias cavity such that the bias wall is between the bias cavity and the trapper cavity and is designed to distort into the bias cavity during insertion of the attractant. In other embodiments, flexibility of the bias wall is achieved by placing the trapper cavity sufficiently close to the outer surface of the toy to form the bias wall between the outer surface and the trapper cavity so that the bias wall may distort the external surface of the toy during insertion of the attractant.
In another form of the invention, the toy includes a trapper cavity that receives the attractant and whose opening is closed by resilient teeth that permit easy insertion of the attractant into the trapper cavity. The teeth mesh so that small pieces of the attractant that might be broken by the animal are retained in the trapper cavity. As the animal salivates, small pieces of the attractant dissolve and flow through the teeth for access by the animal.
In all embodiments of the invention, the toy optionally includes an external configuration that promotes erratic motion of the toy, thereby holding the interest of the animal.